Caltech world's number one university

TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION PUBLISHES EXPANDED WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2015-16

First non-Anglo American university to enter top 10 in a decade is ETH Zurich

Universities in 70 countries included in the rankings (29 new countries this year)

Biggest THE World University Rankings ever with 801 universities ranked (up from 400 last year)

Good year for Continental Europe; Germany has 20 universities in top 200 (up from 12 last year)

UK has a good year with 34 in the top 100; four London universities make the top 30

National University of Singapore takes the Asian top spot; China has two universities in the elite top 50

American dominance falls back with 63 in the top 200 (down from 74); 39 in the top 100 (down from 45); and 6 in the top 10 (down from 7)

The Times Higher Education has published the 12th edition of its World University Rankings. It shows that the world’s top 10 universities are dominated by the US, with six institutions including the top spot with the California Institute of Technology. This is followed by the University of Oxford in second place and Stanford University in third.

The UK performs well with three universities overall in the top ten and ETH Zurich - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich has become the first non-Anglo-American institution to make it into the top 10 for a decade, in ninth place.

Rank 2015-16

Institution

Country

1

California Institute of Technology

US

2

University of Oxford

UK

3

Stanford University

US

4

University of Cambridge

UK

5

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

US

6

Harvard University

US

7

Princeton University

US

8

Imperial College London

UK

9

ETH Zürich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich

Switzerland

10

University of Chicago

US

Phil Baty, the editor of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings said:

“The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, now in their 12th year, apply rigorous standards, using tough global benchmarks across all of a global research university’s key missions – teaching, research, knowledge transfer and international outlook. The results are trusted by students and their families and by academics, university leaders and governments. The top 800 list represents just 4 per cent of the world’s higher education institutions, so we congratulate all institutions who have made this year’s list.

“This year’s expanded list is testament to just how competitive global higher education has become – our top 800 universities come from 70 different countries, and the traditional dominance of the US is eroding. Make no mistake – many countries aspire to have world class universities competing with the very best in the world, and no one at the top can afford to rest on their laurels. You have to run very fast just to stand still and there are many rising stars from a wide range of nations seeking to gain the upper hand in the 21st century knowledge economy.”

United States of America

Despite its strong top 10 performance, competition has been fierce this year and the US’ lead has been eroded. Where it had 74 in the top 200 last year, this year it’s down to 63. Despite this, the US takes 14 of the top 20 and 26 of the top 50. The US has the most universities in the rankings, with 147 in the top 800.

Phil Baty continued:

“While the US remains the undisputed world leader when it comes to elite universities – its dominance has significantly eroded this year. The US has six of the top ten universities – down from seven last year. And it has 39 of the top 100 – down from 45 last year.

“This is to some degree due to significant improvements to the rankings’ data sources, with improved coverage of research not published in English and a better geographical spread of responses to our academic reputation survey. It also demonstrates that the US’s leading status as the world’s top magnet for academic and student talent cannot be taken for granted.

“Earlier this month President Obama said that ‘the country with the best-educated workforce in the world is going to win the 21st century economy. I want that to be America’. These rankings results show that the competition will be tough.”

Europe

Elsewhere, continental Europe is eroding the traditional hegemony of the Anglo-American universities. ETH Zurich in Switzerland leads the pack as the first institution from outside the US and UK to make the world top 10 in a decade. Meanwhile, Germany now has 20 institutions in the top 200 (compared with 12 in 2014-15) and three – LMU Munich, Heidelberg University and Humboldt University in Berlin – making the elite top 50.

Both the UK and the Netherlands continue their consistent performance. The UK is second only to the US for world-class universities, with 78 in the top 800 and 34 institutions in the top 200. The Netherlands has 12 institutions in the top 200 - fourth in the world after the US, UK and Germany. France has five in this top 200 group while Spain and Italy each have three. Institutions in 13 European countries have entered the rankings this year: Belarus, Cyprus, Estonia, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia and Ukraine. There are more European universities in the world top 200 than ever before, with 70 across Europe and another 34 in the UK.

Phil Baty commented:

“Continental Europe, with strong performances by universities in Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands and twelve nations entering this year’s rankings, is eroding the traditional hegemony of the Anglo-American universities. There are more European universities in the world top 200 than ever before, 70 across Europe and another 34 from the UK. ETH Zurich leads the pack on Continental Europe, becoming the first from outside the US and UK to make the world top 10 in a decade.

“It seems that European universities have woken up to the benefits of the international scrutiny provided by THE World University Rankings, which plays a major role influencing international students’ study choices. This strong showing in the 2015-16 World University Rankings will make Europe an even more attractive destination for international students.”

Asia

In Asia, the National University of Singapore holds Asia’s number one spot (in 26th place) while China’s two leading universities (Peking and Tsinghua) are firmly established in the world’s elite top 50 group at 42nd and joint 47th respectively. Japan has two institutions in the top 200, University of Tokyo (43rd) and Kyoto University (joint 88th), while South Korea has four institutions in the top 200: Seoul National University (85th), Pohang University of Science and Technology (116th), the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (148th) and Sungkyunkwan University (153rd). Hong Kong has three institutions in the top 200: the University of Hong Kong (joint 44th), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (59th) and the Chinese University of Hong Kong (joint 138th). India has 17 institutions in the top 800 list, with two in the top 400 list, which are the Indian Institute of Science in the 251-300 group and the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay (351-400).

Phil Baty continued:

“It is a mixed picture for Asia. China’s two leading universities, Peking and Tsinghua, are firmly established within the world’s elite top 50 group. Singapore is another strong performer - it now boasts Asia’s number one university, the National University of Singapore in 26th place, and its compatriot, Nanyang Technological University, sits in its highest ever place, 55th.

“But tough times for Japan and disappointment for South Korea mean that leading Asian nations’ grip on the higher ranks of the THE World University Rankings is loose. Many leading institutions, particularly in East Asia, have been focussing heavily on attaining world class status, backed with funding and powerful political will. But this rankings demonstrates how difficult a task this is, as universities right across the world continue to improve.”

THE World University Rankings are partly based on publication and citation data from Elsevier’s Scopus, the world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, and include analytics from SciVal, Elsevier’s tool to calculate comparative research metrics. The ranking features universities in 70 countries, with 29 new countries included this year. Countries entering this year include Indonesia, Malaysia, Ghana, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Latvia, Oman, Qatar and the Ukraine. While the US remains the world leader when it comes to elite universities, its dominance has been eroded this year. It has six of the top ten universities – down from seven last year – and 39 of the top 100 – down from 45 last year.

THE TIMES HIGHER EDUCATION WORLD UNIVERSITY RANKINGS 2015-16 – FULL TOP 200

Copyright Times Higher Education 2015

If any of this table is reproduced, you must credit: Times Higher Education and link to the full results and analysis at www.thewur.com

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-16 draw upon:

● 800 universities ranked, up from 400 from last year, with 70 countries included (29 more than in 2014)

● Thirteen performance indicators make these the ONLY world rankings to examine ALL the core missions of the modern global university – research, teaching, knowledge transfer and international activity

● The world’s largest invitation-only academic reputation survey (including responses from more than 10,000 senior academics in 2014-15)

● Research excellence assessed through the examination of more than 11 million research papers (up from six million last year) with 51 million citations (up from 50 million last year)

● Arts, humanities and social sciences placed on an equal footing with science

The indicators are:

Industry income – innovation

1. Research income from industry/academic staff

Teaching – the learning environment

2. Reputation survey – teaching

3. Staff-to-student ratio

4. PhDs/undergraduate degrees awarded

5. PhDs awarded/academic staff

6. Institutional income/academic staff

Citations – research influence

7. Citation impact (normalised average citations per paper)

Research – volume, income and reputation

8. Reputation survey – research

9. Research income/academic staff

10. Scholarly papers/academic staff and research staff

International outlook – staff, students and research

11. International students/total students

12. International academic staff/total academic staff

13. Scholarly papers with one or more international co-authors/total scholarly papers

Terminology and intellectual property

● The full title of the tables is “Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2015-16”

● This edition of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings marks the first time that core institutional and reputational information has been gathered in-house by THE’s new dedicated team of data experts. This has allowed THE to publish data on more institutions than ever before. Bringing the data in-house means that THE can develop more sophisticated analyses: for example, tables that focus on particular regions with bespoke metrics

● This is supplemented by extended research publication data drawn from Elsevier’s Scopus database, the world’s largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed academic literature

● This updated approach enables THE to analyse a deeper range of research activity from a wider range of institutions than ever before, including those institutions from emerging economies that account for a growing proportion of the world’s research output

● There are caveats. While the tried, trusted and comprehensive combination of 13 performance indicators remains in place, with some carefully calibrated weightings, naturally there is a degree of volatility compared with last year because of the improvements that have been made. This has led to significant changes in some institutions’ positions that cannot be attributed solely to performance. This is why last year’s results have not been shown alongside this year’s results, as direct comparisons cannot be made

Times Higher Education is the world’s most authoritative source of information about higher education. Designed specifically for professional people working in higher education and research, THE was founded in 1971 and has been online since 1995. It is published by TES Global.

About Elsevier

Elsevier is a world-leading provider of information solutions that enhance the performance of science, health, and technology professionals, empowering them to make better decisions, deliver better care, and sometimes make groundbreaking discoveries that advance the boundaries of knowledge and human progress. Elsevier provides web-based, digital solutions — among them ScienceDirect, Scopus, Elsevier Research Intelligence and ClinicalKey— and publishes over 2,500 journals, including The Lancet and Cell, and more than 33,000 book titles, including a number of iconic reference works. Elsevier is part of RELX Group plc, a world-leading provider of information solutions for professional customers across industries. www.elsevier.com